


Deke Shaw's Night Out

by Fritzen_lcaos



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Non-Graphic Smut, Post Finding Out That FitzSimmons Are His Grandparents, deke shaw - Freeform, fun times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 14:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14106918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fritzen_lcaos/pseuds/Fritzen_lcaos
Summary: After searching for information about his grandparents leads him to a dead end, some disturbing ads and a busted laptop, Deke decides he needs a break from his life at the Lighthouse. What he needs, is a night out to himself.He expected to spend his night out getting wasted on Zima, in hopes to forget how unnerving his life is right now.But what happens when he finds himself sitting beside a stubborn, smooth talking young woman who won't take no for an answer?His drunken night out turns into something he never would have anticipated.





	Deke Shaw's Night Out

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, look. I am actually WRITING. And to be honest, I am terrified at what you guys might think of this story.  
> This is something a friend and I came up with together, as we felt it was unfair that there was a serious lack of Deke stories out there.  
> I hope you all enjoy Deke's Night Out.

Daisy was insanely strict when it came to computers, especially when it came to _her_ laptop. This did not stop Deke from nagging her to let him mess around on one. Though the darned things were hard on his eyes and seemed to cause him more problems than it did help, he was determined to get past that for an important reason. After discovering the truth about Fitz and Jemma (they were his grandparents, what even was his life anymore?), he wanted to search this thing that Daisy often referred to as the “internet” for any help in this situation. From what he gathered, the internet was like one giant library giving you access to anything your little heart desired. And right now, all Deke desired was to know more about his grandparents.  
But before Daisy would let him even sit alone with a computer, she gave him a big long conversation about the "do’s and dont’s" of the internet.  
_Don’t_ click on any ads, _don’t_ give out any personal information, _don’t_ agree to talk or chat with anyone. In fact, Daisy gave more reasons as to why the internet was a bad place rather than something that was considered helpful.  
Deke nearly shouted out in praise the moment Davis walked through the door, letting her know that Coulson wished to speak to her about something urgent. This would give him some good solid time alone, hopefully even long enough for him to search for the information he was looking for.  
A good half an hour had gone by since Daisy left and unfortunately his search has gotten him nowhere. About all he found was an old article about the two of them making a visit to the Academy, some old S.H.I.E.L.D school that seemed to no longer be in existence and a few uncomfortably steamy stories about Daisy Johnson. He preferred to not think about those, if at all possible.  
Frustrated, Deke ran his hands through his hair as he let out an irritated sigh. _“Man, the internet sucks ass. I don’t understand why everyone makes such a fuss about it.”_ he thought to himself. It was as if the two scientists had disappeared off the face of the digital earth, leaving him back where he started. Angrily pressing down on the arrow button, he scrolled through some obscure website where a bunch of nerds discussed possible “SHIELD” sightings. Most of the stuff he read was false, and that was saying a lot considering he barely knew anything about the team.  
Taking a bite of his fourth Twinkie, he moved his mouse to close out of the browser when at that moment something popped up on his screen.  
He nearly choked on the food in his mouth when the picture of an insanely beautiful woman smiling back at him met his eyes. She had tauntingly seductive brown eyes, insanely bright blonde hair and a tan that seemed too dark to be real. Her top was a little more low cut than anything he had seen in his own time, and with that note he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.  
“What the hell?” he mumbled, tilting his head as he glanced at the image. He wondered if this was perhaps supposed to be some sort of old picture of Jemma’s mother, but then he noticed the text at the bottom of the image.  
_“Looking to connect with singles from your area? Chat with one now!”_  
The message quickly peaked his curiosity, as he moved his mouse to the chat button - stopping just before he pressed the button. Daisy made it clear that he was to not chat with anyone, but she said nothing about not being allowed to chat with other singles. Truth be told, even with all the other agents here, he felt lonely. He felt like he someone who was not wanted here and more like someone comparable to a little kid meant to be watched over. Even his own grandparents treated him like that.  
Taking another bite out of the Twinkie, he gave the picture another glance. There was no harm in just a friendly little chat(especially with someone so hot), so he pressed the accept button and waited for something to happen. At first nothing happened, leading him to think that something was wrong with the device. Moving the mouse, he pressed the button a couple more times, realizing the computer was locked up.  
_“You’ve got to be kidding me,”_ he thought to himself, groaning as he slammed the mouse down. Just as he had done that, a couple more pop up pages appeared on his screen, with imagery so explicit, he couldn’t even began to describe what he was seeing. The fact that he began choking on his food as he nearly fell out of the office chair should have been a good enough of an idea as to how inappropriate the images were.  
If chatting was the code word for this, holy..  
Gathering his balance, he quickly grabbed at the mouse while trying desperately to close the boxes of weird that were covering the entire desktop, but that only seemed to anger the lagging machine.  
It started humming violently, the entire screen locked up to the point that not even the mouse responded.  
“Shit,” he muttered, placing his hands over the screen. He looked around for something to help him out with this situation before Daisy or anyone could walk in and find out that he was the cause of this unforgivable wrong.  
There had to be something, something that could make this all disappear..  
That’s when his eyes landed on the abandoned icer pistol laying not too far from where he sat, his eyes widening at the sight of it.  
That was it, that’s what he would do. The icer was used to put people to sleep, so he would use it to put the machine to sleep, erasing all of his issues. Removing his hands from the screen, he grabbed for the gun, quickly pointing it at the machine and taking a few shots at it.  
The computer was off after the first few shots, leaving Deke to feel relieved that his problem was now behind him. That was before he noticed that not only was the machine off, but that the screen was cracked in several places, a rainbow coloring that most likely meant anything but sunshine and puppy dogs appeared on the screen.  
_Shit._  
The door to the area opened, causing Deke to jump and drop the icer. It clattered to the floor as Daisy, followed by Coulson, Fitz and Jemma entered the area. They were all chatting it up before the sound of the icer falling caught their attention, all fell silent at the sight of Deke and the busted laptop sitting beside him.  
They all stared at him with questioning looks, Daisy looking the most bothered by the sight that laid out before them. They may have all been wondering what on earth was going on, but Fitz was the only one brave enough to respond to this unusual behavior.  
“What the bloody hell happened?”  
Raising his hands defensively, Deke he backed away from the computer like it was a ticking bomb waiting to go off.  
“It was another one of those fear illusions, it appeared right before the laptop. I grabbed the icer thinking it might help. I-I might have missed..”  
Daisy rushed pass the jumpy man, leaning the laptop back she took a look at its cracked screen with a furious expression crossing her face..  
“Seven times, Deke? You missed seven times!”  
“In my defense, it was a moving target.. It’s not my fault that the computer was in the way.”  
Sure, if the moving target was a bunch of extremely vulgar por-ah hem-explicit images, then that makes total sense.  
As if sensing something, Daisy narrowed her eyes.  
“Are you sure about that? Because you seem guilty. Are you sure you’re not lying to cover-” “THERE WAS A LOT OF PRESSURE, OKAY? Forgive me, I am not a sharp shooting agent like you guys!” He pointed an accusing finger at the three of them, backing his way slowly out of the room and out of revealing what really happened..  
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to take a nice, extremely cold shower.. Not because I’m.. It’s just because I’m hot! Don’t ask why, I just... Goodbye!”  
Deke turned and left the room in an instant, leaving a busted computer and a few very confused agents behind.

\- -

After the computer fiasco, Deke felt it would be best for him to sneak out and get a little air. And by a little air, he meant finding the nearest bar and getting drunk as quickly as he possibly could.  
After seeing those filthy images on his screen, a cold shower wasn’t enough to wash the images from his mind. He needed something a little more, something a bit stronger..  
“If you don’t mind, I’d like a bottle of Zima.” the bartender barely got the chance to greet Deke before he was already rattling off his order. After reflecting back to what happened back at the Lighthouse, he scrunched up his nose and placed his chin in his hand.  
“On second thought, make that four Zima’s..”  
The bartender didn’t even question it, he simply nodded, leaving Deke alone for a few seconds while he retrieved the bottles.  
He couldn’t wait to drown out everything he had been feeling for the last couple of hours with the taste of clear citrus gold.Everyone back at the Lighthouse may have been funny about Zima, but it was the best.  
A snort of laughter pierced his thoughts, as the sound of someone turning on their barstool followed suit.  
“Wow, four bottles of that girly drink? You must be having a rough night.”  
Turning his head to acknowledge the rude voice infringing on his “me” time, he was stopped in his tracks before a single word could leave his lips. Shock washed over him at the sight of the insanely pretty woman sitting beside him. With piercing blue eyes and long, light brown hair, she blew away that woman he had seen on the computer screen earlier. That was before he noticed the tall glass of beer resting in her hand, the garbage he had tried when he first arrived here on earth.  
Trying to tear his gaze away from the woman, he shook his head, scoffing.  
“I could say the same to you, seeing as you’re drinking that disgusting stuff.” he retorted, nodding towards her glass.  
The girl tilted her head to look at him, a small smile on her face.  
Damn, her smile somehow made her even prettier - a possibility he didn’t even think was possible.  
“It’s not about the taste. Correction, it’s _never_ about the taste. It’s about how it makes you feel, how it makes you forget.” she brought the glass to her lips, taking in the last of her drink before slamming the glass down on the bar.  
The way she looked at her empty glass as if she were undressing someone with her bright blue eyes made him suddenly feel even more uncomfortable, his eyes wandering around the bar.  
_Where on earth was the bartender with his drinks?_  
“Well, hate to break it to you, but your drink tastes like piss.” he snapped, realizing that there was more of an edge to his voice than he originally wanted.  
Thankfully there was something about his comment that was funny enough to make the girl laugh, which brought his full attention back to her. He forced himself to get a better look at this woman, beyond the brown hair that toppled over her shoulders and the blue eyes that pierced his soul. Unlike all the other women in here, she was the only one dressed in a baggy “I’m My Own Superhero” t-shirt and a pair of ripped up blue jeans. Her face had a more natural look to it, not painted up in a ton of makeup like all the other women he had run into since being sent here. He almost did not realize that the bartender returned with his four bottles until the man cleared his throat. Shaking his head he turned his attention from the girl and towards one of the opened bottles before him, quickly grabbing it and downing it as fast as he possibly could.  
The bartender glanced towards the girl sitting next to him, picking up the empty glass before her. “Do you need another beer, Abigail?”  
Ah, so the pretty face _did_ have a name. Abigail was an interesting choice, most would consider it old fashion, but seeing as this wasn’t his time era he really had no room to talk.  
Abigail shook her head, shooing her glass away. “Thank you, but I think I’m good. I’d like to stay a little alert for a conversation with my friend here.”  
Friend, huh? This woman must have been talking about someone else, as there was no way she was talking about him after he ripped apart her drink the way he did.  
The bartender nodded, taking in the two of them sitting so close together. “Having a nice chat, I take it?”  
Deke started choking on his drink, the sensation causing his nose to burn as he began coughing in response to the bartenders question. Abigail giggled, as the bartender stared at him with a concerned expression.  
Once Deke gathered his composure, he gave the bartender a dirty look.  
“Look, I get that the bar is considered a pretty low moral place, but I don’t think anyone would appreciate the two of us having a ‘chat’ at your bar.” Deke admitted, his face flushing at the thought of those images he saw on Daisy’s laptop.  
The bartender raised his eyebrows, looking in the direction of Abigail - as if he were asking her where she had picked up this guy.  
She shrugged her shoulders, looking at Deke as he downed his second Zima without so much as stopping to take a breath.  
Sure, he was unusual. But she was intrigued. He wasn’t like all the other guys here..  
Leaning forward, she used her hand to grab the bottle down from his lips and into her own hands. The same dirty look that he had given the bartender, he was now giving her.  
She wasn’t going to let him scare her off, she was determined to find out a little bit more about this mysterious man before her.  
“Excuse me, but I just need to know.. What was your name again?”  
Looking bothered by the fact that she had taken his drink just to ask a stupidly simple question, he frowned and glared at her.  
“If I answer you, will you give me my drink back?”  
Playfully looking towards the ceiling in thought, she took a swig from his bottle before pretending to cough on the drink in the same manner he had a few moments prior.  
“Oh, gosh. This tastes like an orange decided to piss in your glass.. How can you stand this stuff?”  
“Okay, give that back or I’ll make you pay for my entire tab, Abby.” he demanded, as he reached out to grab the bottle from her. She pushed the bottle just out of his reach, her blue eyes daring him to try and take the drink again.  
“Name, good sir. Give me your name, and I’ll give you your precious Zima.”  
Placing his head against his hand, he let out a groan of frustration as he rolled his eyes. He knew that women were said to be stubborn asses when it came to what they wanted, but even Tess was a walk in the park compared to this woman.  
“Deke,” he spat, giving her a huge, sarcastic smile. “And no, nothing else. Just Deke. For all I know, you could be working for the military.”  
Abigail’s eyebrows reached her hairline, as she leaned back in her stool to get a better look at him.  
“Wow, alright then. Well, it’s nice to meet you Deke. My name is Abigail. And no, nothing else. Because for all I know, you could be a stalker.”  
Deke snorted, shaking his head.  
“Me? A stalker? You’re the one asking questions and stealing my drinks. By the way, do you mind?” he asked, pointing to the bottle in her hand.  
Abigail took another drink, earning herself another dark glare. “I think I am starting to understand why you like this girly drink so much. But you’re going to have to give me more than that if you want your drink back, Deke.”  
“What, do you want money? Because my grandpa gave me $100 dollars..” he silently cursed himself, realizing that he just called Fitz his grandfather. Well, it was true..  
Abigail shook her head, tracing her finger along the rim of the Zima bottle.  
“No, Deke. It isn’t money that I want. If I wanted money, I could think of about a hundred ways to get it.” Pushing the glass away, she leaned forward, staring directly into Deke’s eyes. While he may have been feeling uncomfortable, he couldn’t help but pleased to be given another chance to look into her eyes.  
Something about staring into them was relaxing, like looking at the ocean on the computer screen the other day. Only this was real, and far more breathtaking than any screen would ever be.  
Abigail removed her hand from the bar, placing it on Deke’s knee gently, which was a bit of a surprise to him.  
“You walked into this bar tonight looking like you just lost a bet, ordered four drinks, and what? Expected to sit sulking to yourself? The problem is, is you sat down next to me - and I don’t like to leave anyone sitting left out. I’ve been there, it’s an ugly feeling. So, Deke ‘Nothing Else’ Zima, would you do me the honor of chatting the night away with me?”  
He thought it couldn’t get much worse than the bartender bringing it up, but now her, too? This was about as bad as one of those Daisy “fanfictions” he had skimmed through. He suddenly began to wonder if banging his head on the bars counter would be enough to help him end his misery.  
His face flushing a deep shade of red, he looked away while stuttering nervously. “I-I, w-wow. You present day women sure are forward..”  
Abigail rolled her eyes, removing her hand from his knee as she stood up from her stool. “Relax, Zima. Okay? I get it, you have a fear of chatting with pretty women.”  
“I-I do not!” he wailed in disbelief, his red face giving him away.  
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that! Honestly, I think most guys feel this way. But don’t worry, I think I know how to fix it.”  
WIthout giving him so much as a chance, she grabbed his hand in hers, sending a surprising sensation of shock up his arm. He almost jerked his hand from hers at the feeling, but she was already dragging him off to another area of the bar, where a few people were moving to some strange sounding music.  
Abigail let go of his hand as soon as they made it to where the other couples were twisting, moving, jumping and swaying while holding onto one another. Unsure of what he was to do, he let his eyes wander around the room, taking in the unusual sights around him. He felt a hand make contact with his, causing him to jump again as he whipped his head around to realize that it was Abigail.  
“Well, Mr. Zima? Are you going to dance with me?” she questioned, her warm smile rendering him speechless.  
Deke opened his mouth to respond, but he couldn’t form any words. How could he? This pretty girl who has done nothing so far but steal his drinks and tell him what to do was asking him to dance with her. It didn’t help that Deke had no clue how to even dance.  
“I don’t know how,” he admitted, talking loud over the music.  
She shook her head, squeezing his hand. “Don’t even think about it, just dance!”  
He gave the area another glance, before deciding to throw caution to the wind and just going for it. Following suit of the other couples around them, he threw his arms around her as if he were pulling her into a tight hug, where he began swaying from side-to-side awkwardly.  
It only lasted for a couple moments, before the bizarre attempt at dancing had earned a laugh of disapproval from the person in his arms. Squirming her way out of the tight hug, he let go of her and quickly backed away from her. Frustrated with himself, his face began flushing red again. What could he have been doing wrong? Is this not how all the other couples were doing it?  
“I told you, I don’t know how.”  
Her face softened at the sight of him standing there, his arms resting on his lower back as if he were attempting a pregnant lady stand. She slowly closed the gap between the two of them, her eyes locking on his. This was even more uncomfortable than when he had had her pressed tightly in his arms, suddenly becoming aware at just _how_ close she was to him. Without so much as a word, she took his hands in hers, placing them gently on her waist. His eyes widened, as she slipped her arms around his neck.  
“The key to dancing is simple: don’t overthink it. Just let your body feel the music, let yourself have fun.”  
He wrinkled his nose in distaste. Let your body feel the music? The only thing his body felt was tense and uncomfortable with her standing so close to him, so close that he could almost..  
His thoughts were interrupted the moment she started moving to the next song that started playing, some wild sounding tune with lyrics talking about some high voiced man being in love with some girls shape. Unsure of what exactly to do with himself, he simply tried swaying with her movements, taking her advice to heart.  
He tuned out everything - from the background noises, to the other people dancing, just focusing on the sound of the music.  
Focusing on her.  
There was something about her, about the way she moved. It was as if this was the most natural thing, standing with some total stranger and swaying to the sound of the music. It became clear that she was enjoying herself, from the way she kept stealing glances at his expression, all the while grinning at him.  
“See? You’re getting it, Deke!”  
This was the first time he remembered smiling since he walked into the bar, a real, genuine smile. And as if it couldn’t get any better, somewhere towards the middle of the song Abigail decided to lay her head on Deke’s shoulder, closing her eyes in the process.  
This action almost caused him to stop dancing altogether, but instead he simply slowed down his pace to a gentle sway, as he let his hands remove themselves from her waist to rest on her lower back.  
It felt weird, feeling her head resting there. Yet at the same time, it felt natural. It felt natural having her forehead pressed lightly against his cheek, as she hummed to the music and gently swayed along with him.  
He almost closed his eyes as well, but the feeling of her head leaving his shoulder jerked him out of it. At first he gave her a concerned look, worried that he had done something wrong. That was pushed aside when he noticed a small strand of her hair was stuck to the scruff on his face.  
He couldn’t help but chuckle lightly, as he brushed the strand lightly back behind her ear. Something about this action encouraged his eyes to wander, before locking with hers. It was here that he realized that they both were no longer moving, even though the song was still going on.  
He was lost, lost in the bright blue of her eyes. From what he could tell, she seemed to be lost in his as well.  
Everything about this situation should have felt wrong, but it didn’t. He wasn’t for sure if it was the couple of drinks buzzing through his body, or if it was the adrenaline of the moment - but _damn_.  
He wanted to kiss her.  
And from the way she was slowly leaning in to his lips, he could tell that he wasn’t the only one feeling this way.  
She was so close, so close that he could almost feel the softness of her lips. He wanted to be the one to close the gap between them, to make this moment happen.  
If it wasn’t for some clumsy drunk woman bumping into Abigail and breaking them apart, he was sure the kiss would have for sure happened.  
_Seriously?_  
Deke opened his eyes, glaring down at the drunk woman who was laughing her ass off as a few friends a short distance away laughed with her. He was about to get angry at the woman, but that was before glanced up at Abigail and realized she was still standing there. Her face was flushed, he wasn’t for sure if it was from the embarrassing moment that just happened, or if it was because of their near kiss being ruined.  
Perhaps it was both.  
Pursing her lips, she tilted her head towards the bars exit. “Would you like to get out of here?”  
She didn’t even have to ask twice. 

\- -

After paying their tabs, the duo found themselves walking around the town, talking the night away. Turns out that Abigail, Abigail Dawn, to be exact - was just as interesting as you would expect. She was an artist, the type of artist who took junk like old pieces of metal or trash and made it into works of art. She worked as a waitress at some hole-in-the-wall restaurant not too far from the bar and volunteered at the nursing home on weekends. She took Deke to all her favorite places, showing the outside of buildings that were closed now, but her description of each and every place was enough to make it feel as if he were walking through and analyzing each and every place himself.  
Abigail was amazing, he realized that early on in their adventure. Even though she did all these wonderful things and spoke about it in a way unlike anyone ever has, Abigail made it clear that she was far from a perfect human being. She told him stories about her struggles with depression and anxiety, about how there were many times she wanted to end her life - and the one time she almost did.  
She told him about her entire life - her family, her issues, growing up with a mom and no father. Her life, which seemed far more interesting than his life ever would be, in some ways seemed about as tragic and messed up as his.  
“What about you?” she finally piped up, after a few moments of silence. They were both walking down a quiet street, enjoying a couple of snow cones she picked up from a little stand on Main street. “Is there anything you’d like to share?”  
Deke looked down quickly, staring at his feet for a couple moments. He couldn’t bring himself to meet her eyes, as he thought about everything that had gone on in his life. If she knew, oh if she only knew just how horrible his life was.. The horrible things he had done.. Would she even want to be around him?  
He forced a smile, as he glanced up at her with tired eyes.  
“I’m just going to be honest, my life was hell. It still is, actually. I am a loser who still lives with my grandparents, don’t really have any interests outside of..”  
“Zima and calling people out for drinking piss?” she quipped, trying to make the mood light.  
He met her comment with a smile, using his free hand to punch her shoulder lightly as she giggled softly.  
“Ha-ha, very funny.”  
The lightness of their conversation lasted only a couple seconds, before his smile turned back into a frown, his face darkening.  
“My mom died when I was pretty young, leaving me to deal with my dad until he left. After that, I did some really bad things.. Anything I could to just help me survive..” his voice suddenly got deeper, a sign that he was beginning to get choked up with emotions again. He could even feel tears threatening to form.  
Clearing his throat, he gave her a weak, hesitant smile.  
“You don’t really want to hear about my life, my life is depressing and hard. Just thinking about it would make you want to..”  
“Kill yourself?” Abigail questioned, her eyes narrowing. He cringed, realizing how poor his choice of wording was going to be. Abigail, being a suicide survivor, probably knew more about living a hellish life on earth than he ever would - and he came from a future where there was no earth.  
He pounded his fist lightly on his forehead, muttering a few curse words under his breath.  
“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”  
Abigail raised a hand, shutting him up instantly. At first he thought she was trying to prevent him from saying anymore about the situation, that perhaps he was stirring up bad memories of her past. The smile on her face proved that that was not the case at all, as as she pointed to the Snow Cone in his hand.  
“Stick out your tongue,”  
Her command only confused him, now it was his turn to narrow his eyes at her.  
“What?”  
_“The hell?”_ he wanted to add, but left those last two words locked in his mind.  
She grinned mischievously, pointing at him accusingly.  
“Tongue, Deke Shaw! Let me see your tongue!”  
He was still confused as to why she wanted to see his tongue, but he decided to humor her and let her have what she wanted.  
He barely had stuck his tongue out, before she started giggling at him like a little kid.  
“Damn, I told you that a blue Snow Cone was a bad idea.”  
His hands were on his lower back again, in the same pregnant lady manner that he had had them in earlier.  
“You set me up, you said blue was the best flavor.”  
“Correction, I said that blue was the _messiest_ flavor. You should see just how blue your tongue is right now, it suits you.”  
Oh, so that was how she was going to play it, huh? Guess it was time he get back at her for her little stunt.  
“Since you seem to have a weird fixation with the color blue and my tongue, you won’t mind if I share some of Snow Cone with say, your face?”  
Her eyes widened, as she glared up at him. “You. Wouldn’t. Dare.”  
Deke grinned, he was sure his teeth were probably as attractive and blue as his tongue right now.  
“I would dare, Abigail Dawn.”  
The two stood frozen, staring at each other for a couple seconds. It was almost as if they were having an old Western Standoff, minus the crowd and the weird, overused Western music. All was still for a couple moments, before Deke took a step towards Abigail. It only took that one step to set her off, as she let out a loud scream before dropping her own Snow Cone and taking off down the street.  
The reaction left Deke standing there in shock for a couple moments, before he realized that his culprit was getting away.  
Abigail was surprised at how fast he was, this was made clear when he had caught up with her and captured her from behind. His arms were lightly hugging her around her waist, something she could have easily squirmed out of. Out of breath, she only squirmed just enough to knock his own Snow Cone to the ground - nearly collapsing in his arms as she doubled over with laughter.  
Something about her laughter in this moment was enough to almost cause Deke to drop her, as he was so fixated on just how contagious it was as if he was losing his grip on her.  
Placing his head on her shoulder, he waited for her to catch her breath, continuing to hold her around her waist.  
“I hate to say this Abby, but you really suck at running.”  
She snorted, placing her hands over his. “I hate to say this, too.. But you suck at holding someone hostage.” She broke herself free of his hold, spinning herself around so that she could face him and playfully place an elbow to his throat, but something about catching sight of his eyes left her frozen before him.  
This caught him off guard as well, leaving him to flashback a little while to their dance. They were close, _so close,_ to kissing back then. And now, it felt like they were headed down this path again, and he couldn’t help it.. He hoped that it would actually happen this time.  
And it would have, if it wasn’t for Abigail removing her gaze from his, breaking the connection once again.  
_Damn it._  
Crossing her arms over her stomach, she looked down at the ground before she nodded her head to something just down the street.  
“My apartment is actually just a couple minutes from here..”  
He could feel his heart sinking, as he couldn’t help but let his head fall at her remark. Damn it, he must have scared her off.  
That was the last thing he wanted to do, but it seemed to be a reoccurring thing with him. Deke Shaw was an unlovable man.  
She smiled up at him, her eyes meeting his once again. There was an excitement to them that he had not seen before, something that calmed the anxiety he was feeling down a little bit.  
“I wanted to see if you wanted to come inside? I’d really like to show you something.”  
Deke let out an imaginary sigh of relief, a soft smile forming on his face.  
“I’d like that.”  
Her apartment wasn’t very big, but it sure beat where he was currently living. Unlike the Lighthouse, her apartment had color. It’s walls were a soft blue, like the sky on a perfectly cloudless day. She had furniture that was nicer than anything he had ever seen, and a kitchen stocked with foods off all kind - none of which were the junk food he had been living off of for the past few weeks.  
He was most surprised to see that she wasn’t joking about the art thing, as all around her place was all different kinds of art pieces of all different shapes and types, made out of all different kinds of materials.  
There were vases and flowers made out of books, sculptures made out of things like beer bottles and bottle caps, and paintings done on obscure objects like leaves and wood.  
Deke wandered around the living room of her apartment like a little kid visiting a dinosaur museum for the first time, Abigail enjoying herself watching him take everything in in awe.  
He finally stopped gawking long enough to look back at her, pointing at a few of the different pieces.  
“You make this stuff?”  
Abigail smiled, nodding as she stuck her hands into her pockets as she shrugged - something she would do whenever someone would compliment her work.  
“I have been making art like this ever since I was young. It’s ultimately what saved me from myself, it gave me an escape when everything happening in the here and now was too much for me to handle.”  
“Well, you’re lucky. I never had anything like this to really to keep me from my reality. Well, except as a kid, I had always wanted to see earth as a whole from space. You know, like you see in all those nerdy science books like my grandparents have. That’s the only thing that kept me going as a kid, the hope that one day I’d be able to..” Deke paused, realizing that Abigail had grown insanely quiet. He looked over to see that she was biting down on her lower lip, as if she was trying to hold something in.  
“Okay, I get it. That is insanely lame.”  
Abigail quickly shook her head, rushing forward to stand beside him.  
“No, _no!_ Not at all! It’s just.. Can I show you something?” she clasped her hands together, bringing them to her lips as she tried her hardest and failed to contain an excited smile.  
Both confused and curious as to why she was so excited, he nodded. He barely finished his nod before she grabbed hold of his hand, and dragged him out of the living room and into another area excitedly.  
She stopped him just outside of a room with it’s door shut, a sign hanging on it that read “Studio”. One of her hands was holding his, while the other one was placed on the knob.  
“What I’m about to show you is almost finished, but it is something that has never been seen by anyone’s eyes but my own.”  
He looked nervous but at the same time, he felt excited. Whatever she was about to show him, it had to be important - and to be the only person outside of her to see it? Well, that only made him even more excited.  
“Are you ready?” she asked him, sucking in a deep breath. He was sure she was doing this on purpose, in an attempt to make him even more excited.  
Needless to say, it was working.  
Nodding slowly, he leaned forward to watch as she opened the door. She walked him into a dark room, he questioned if this were some sort of trap before she flicked on a light to reveal what she wanted to show him.  
Sitting dead center in the room was another one of her sculptures, only this one was different from all the others. Made out of what looked to be like metals of all types, was an exact replica of earth - the earth he had only ever dreamed of seeing, and now stood on in this very moment, holding the hand of a woman who had the free will to do whatever she pleased.  
Something about this thought hit him like a sucker punch, his breath getting caught up in his lungs. He must have been silent and staring for quite some time, for it took the sound of Abigail clearing her throat to bring him back to reality.  
Blushing, he shook his head as he gave her hand a tight squeeze.  
“I-I don’t know what to say,”  
“Is it bad?” she asked, a nervousness to her tone.  
He shook his head again, probably looking like a busted bobble head.  
“No, it’s great! It’s everything like I had ever imagined.”  
Her face relaxed at his comment, her eyes lighting up as she looked up at him.  
“Okay, good! Because I’ve been working on this for over a year, and like I said.. No one has ever seen this. The idea came to me one day after someone around here lost their home due to a fire. All that destruction, all those memories and items destroyed, it was as if that family had lost their entire world,” she paused, breaking her gaze to nod towards the sculpture before them, “And I just, it hit me - can you imagine if we actual lost the actually world? _Our_ entire earth? Would anyone anyone ever remember it? Would those people from the future know what it looks like?”  
Deke felt his heart pounding in his chest, as he listened to her ramble on about what was a perfect description of his life. She was describing everything he had ever known, and she wasn’t even aware of it. He wasn’t a praying man, but shit. He was praying hard in this moment that she couldn’t feel his hand shaking.  
As if hearing his thoughts she turned to face him, her bright blue eyes had this faraway look to them as she continued on: “I’m not saying that this piece will stand the test of time, nor that it would survive the destruction of the earth. I’m just saying, _‘what if’?_ What if it does survive, along with who knows how many people? I get that this sounds crazy, but-”  
“-it’s not crazy.” Deke finished, his voice stopping her from rambling any longer.  
She blinked a couple of times, her eyes focusing on his face for the first time in the last few moments.  
“I’m sorry, what?”  
He didn’t answer her at first, his took her free hand in his, holding them up as if to get a better look at them.  
“From what I have learned about you tonight, you seem like the type of woman that no matter what life throws at her, you always find the solution to the problem, the light in the darkness. You use your own past, horrible experiences to make other people’s lives better, instead of letting the idea of fear, tragedy and ruin bring you down. You give people the hope of a better future.”  
He smiled softly, allowing his fingers to intertwine with her fingers as he looked back into her eyes.  
“Abigail Dawn, I think you are entirely capable of saving the world, _my_ world, from any further destruction.”  
It was a comment that would have rendered most people silent, or a comment that would lead some people to breaking down in tears after a few moments of letting it sink in. Deke wasn’t for sure if he could fully handle seeing Abigail cry, but he was anticipating it more than what actually happened next.  
After an entire evening of being interrupted by people or by racing thoughts, she finally took the chance. She took the chance to remove her hands from his, to place them around his neck, so that she could bring herself to firmly yet softly place her lips on his.  
It threw Deke off guard, at first he wasn’t for sure what he was to do. Where should he put his hands? Should he close his eyes? Her eyes were closed.. Shit, was he seriously this bad at this?  
Her earlier comments about dancing came to mind, about how he should stop thinking and just let the moment guide him to make the right choice.  
So he did.  
His hands found their way to her back, the feeling of his hands resting there encouraged her to close the gap between their bodies as his eyes fluttered shut. He was perfectly content staying like this, just letting the softness of her lips stay pressed against his, the warm feeling of her body pressed firmly against his. Then she had to go and deepen the kiss, she had to let her hands move themselves from his neck, letting her fingers attempt to tangle themselves into his hair. She had to tilt her head, to only make the kiss deeper, more passionate..to encourage him into-.  
He gently broke the kiss, preventing it from drifting into anything further. She opened her eyes partially, disappointment crossing her face as she breathed heavily against his lips.  
_Why_ in the _hell_ would he stop?  
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, his hands caressing her face, “I just.. I didn’t.. _damn_ , you’re making it really hard to not chat you up right now.”  
She tilted her head, looking at him with a confused expression.  
“What?”  
He rolled his eyes, removing his hands from her face and placing them around her waist, bringing her body closer to him. “Agh, just forget what I said and let me kiss you again.”  
She did not hesitate to give into his command, letting his lips graze hers again - as they continued from where they left off.

\- -

Deke had everyone worried sick when he disappeared after the entire laptop scenario. So when he returned home the next morning with a shirt covered in blue stains, smelling like a mixture of Zima and a girls perfume, all the while grinning like a complete idiot, everyone feared the worst.  
“Where in the hell have you been?” Daisy snapped, using her best stern mother voice, her arms crossed over her chest. “Fitz and Jemma were worried sick, Coulson almost sent out Davis to find you. We thought General Hale had gotten to you.”  
This only encouraged Deke’s grin to widen, his eyes twinkling as he thought back to the previous nights activities.  
“Let’s just say, I had a really nice chat with an incredible woman.”  



End file.
